


Traverse

by DragonSorceress22



Series: Tra-Verse [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: (I'm kidding there's no Supernatural crossover here), (like 3 seconds 'post' but whatever), Dark Side of Dimensions Spoiler, Get-Together Fic, Happy Ending, I mean they ARE adopted, M/M, Magic, One Shot, Post-Dark Side Of Dimensions, Prideshipping, because i clearly can't help myself, little bit of Kaiba brothers fluff, mild swearing, the Kaiba bros might secretly be Winchesters for how much actual coping happens when people die here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 05:27:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15308469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonSorceress22/pseuds/DragonSorceress22
Summary: You don’t fund an archeological dig, build a space station, code a puzzle-assembler, and threaten the only almost-friend you’ve ever had for someone you intend tolet go.





	Traverse

**Author's Note:**

> I mentioned it in the tags, but I’m mentioning it again: Contains spoilers for Dark Side of Dimensions. 
> 
> Also, if anyone would like advice on how to acquire this super special awesome amazing movie of awesomeness with accurate English subtitles for the Japanese audio, please feel free to ask me in the comments! I'd be happy to help! (It's so worth it!)
> 
> Selflessly beta’d by [solomonara](http://archiveofourown.org/users/solomonara/pseuds/solomonara/works) (who went so far as to watch this movie from a fandom she’s not in because she’s awesome like that).

When his frontline defense runner brought word of a strange new arrival, Atem ordered his guards to maintain their posts but let the stranger approach. Kaiba arrived on foot, bleeding soul energy and memories into the haze of heat but still tall and proud, apparently held together by his dimension suit and his will alone. He brandished his Duel Disk and his eyes flared electric blue in the midst of the beige and brown and gold of the palace. Atem rose to his feet and smiled.

“Not here,” was all he said. After all, this was private.

“Hn,” was the response, but Kaiba followed and Atem brought him down into the halls deep below the palace where perpetual firelight made the shadows shift around them. Kaiba recognized the place. He had seen it in the vision Ishizu had dropped him into back before Battle City had begun. It was the place where his supposed “past life” had faced the Pharaoh. Without discussion, they took those same spots again.

The duel was fierce. Brutal, even. The damage was real – could be nothing less in an ancient land of the dead where magic still ruled – and it ended in an explosive draw that left Kaiba laid out on the stone long after Atem had struggled to his feet.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” he asked, standing over Kaiba.

Kaiba didn’t answer. His eyes were closed and he was struggling for breath, the black haze of energy still roiling around him, trickling free, weakening him all the time. Atem sat beside him, hunched a little for the damage he’d taken himself.

“I know what you did, Kaiba,” he started, staring off at the flickering shadows across the room. “When other me…” He paused and shook his head, solemn. “When Yuugi’s soul was in danger at a time when dimensional boundaries were collapsing, I was called to him through the Puzzle. I shared his body one last time and knew what he knew. You went to incredible lengths for your belief that I was not gone, and for your desire to duel me again.”

Kaiba’s eyes opened. Atem was a shaded silhouette above him, stoic and regal despite his injuries.

“You… You assembled the Puzzle,” he went on, eyes still distant. “Something I thought impossible for anyone but Yuugi, who was destined to be my vessel. And… you never gave up.”

“I still haven’t beaten you,” Kaiba replied. He pushed himself up – weak, struggling – but Atem did not move to help. Kaiba’s pride commanded respect enough not to. Kaiba sat beside him, breathing hard and bracing his left arm, heavy with the Duel Disk wiring, on an upraised knee. When Atem’s eyes flickered in his direction they were lighter than Kaiba remembered. Less the deep, constant purple of Yuugi’s and instead more vibrant. More red.

“Is that really all it is?” Atem asked. “I know you don’t have any patience for what I’m about to say – you can tell me off once you actually defeat me–”

A glare.

A smirk. “But are you sure it’s not that our souls are connected?”

“Our souls,” Kaiba scoffed. “Are you about to feed me the same crap story Ishizu did? About our ‘past lives’ and our ‘destined battle’? I want to fight you for my _own_ pride, that’s all.”

“…No, Kaiba,” Atem answered, and his voice had gone soft, his head tilted down. “The story I’m thinking of happened only three years ago, at least by your dimension’s laws of time. It’s the story of a young man who’d been abandoned as a child, forgotten by everyone but his brother.”

Kaiba’s anger flared but Atem quelled him with a look, daring him to rebel when the ace of ‘victor’ still rested in Atem’s hands. “He fought with everything he had to protect his brother and their dream,” Atem continued. “He submitted himself to abuse, and was twisted by the man he’d tricked into taking them in. He took on all of that man’s sins along with his name, and even that hateful man’s death could not free the young man’s soul of the darkness that had seeped into it.

“And when I met that same young man three years ago, I shattered his soul and left him broken, just like so many others. Just another victim of the shadows.”

“Is this a confession?” Kaiba asked, mostly for something to say. He’d never truly considered the possibility of _victims_ at the Pharaoh’s hands, even after having been one himself.

“Perhaps,” Atem admitted. “At the time that we met, I was still half shadow-mad, twisted by ages of solitary darkness. I took what I wanted and doled out judgment as I pleased. I took advantage of Yuugi’s complacency and used him. It wasn’t until you returned and challenged me again that things began to change.”

“So you think what you did to my soul and the challenge I brought you in return connects us now? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“If not that, then what?” Atem asked, neither yielding nor combative. “Our ‘destined battle’? Or our protective nature toward those we love? Is it our Duelist’s souls? We _are_ connected, Kaiba, or you wouldn’t be here.” He looked over at him again and this time he held Kaiba’s gaze. “Tell me what you’re really thinking. It’s your one chance to say it out loud, without risk. No one could follow or hear you here.”

“…What about you?”

“Dead men tell no tales,” Atem said in English with a shrug and a laugh. “Your secrets are safe with me.” Kaiba’s eyes went sharp and bright with defiance again and Atem immediately pressed on. “I _am_ dead, Kaiba. And the Puzzle in your dimension has been destroyed. There’s no putting it back together this time. There’s no using Yuugi to draw me back. I am here, in this land of the dead, and I must stay. And that’s all right. But you must not come here again. You’ve dragged yourself through dimensional boundaries to manage it. The damage from that continues to tear you apart, and the longer you stay the more danger you’re in.”

Kaiba raised his right hand weakly, watching the stream of black energy churn, curling up from his forearms, his hands, his fingers.

“Do you even _have_ a way back? Or were you so focused on making it here that you gave no thought to returning.”

“Mokuba will–” Kaiba started, but he cut himself off. He’d taken it for granted that Mokuba would find a way to bring him back, but he hadn’t yet. And what if he _had_ , but during their duel? Or… hadn’t Atem hinted that time flowed differently here? How long would he have to wait? And the rate of his deterioration… would he even last that long?

Atem was right. He hadn’t given thought to his return. Only his arrival.

“I can send you back,” Atem said, whispered low. “The magic here and the technology in your suit – between them, we can make it work. But I don’t want you to go without closure. Please, Kaiba.” He paused and shook his head again. “Seto,” he amended, because he was dead and had nothing left to lose. “Tell me why you’re here.”

Kaiba was silent, struggling to think through a growing fog in his mind. He sagged, his hand going to his head, and Atem was there, a support to lean into. “I don’t know,” he finally answered.

“You’ve been so busy with the ‘how’. You need to work through the ‘why’. You can’t keep going in denial like this. _Why_ did you seek out the Puzzle?”

“To bring you back,” Kaiba answered instantly.

“Why was that so important?”

“Because… you defeated me. I had to–”

“Yuugi has defeated you on his own since then,” Atem insisted. “But you don’t chase after him. Why did you need _me_ back? Why should I matter to you?”

“I…” His breathing was quick and shallow now, his eyes closed. Atem found Kaiba’s hand and settled his own over it. A little of the black haze quelled at the touch. “I can’t answer that,” Kaiba responded. “I don’t understand it. Why… do you matter to me?”

Atem breathed out a laugh. “Is it such a difficult thing? You’re a genius, Kaiba Seto. Draw some parallels. How would you feel if Mokuba was suddenly gone?”

Kaiba’s whole body came into sharper focus then, the black haze of energy pulling in. “I’d never let that happen,” he growled, all fierce conviction even as he remained folded against Atem’s side.

“Why?” Atem prompted gently.

“He’s my brother.”

“You don’t seem like the type to let something as coincidental as shared blood rule your decisions.”

“He’s my responsibility,” Kaiba insisted.

“And he loves you,” Atem replied. “You don’t want to let him down. You care what he thinks of you. You care that he grows up strong and smart and capable. …You love him, too.”

Kaiba took that in, considered it, then muttered, “So what?”

“It’s not an accusation, Seto,” Atem laughed. “But I’m glad you can admit it. You know,” he went on, leaning into Kaiba a little more. “You’re the most stubborn person I’ve ever known. Brazen and prideful and recklessly brilliant and you show all that to the world, but what truly matters you keep so hidden that you can’t even see it yourself. It’s been drilled into you to protect what matters, but it’s time, Seto. It’s time to let down those barriers and _look_ at what you’ve been keeping inside.” Atem reached over slowly and touched his fingertips to Kaiba’s chest.

A startled gasp jumped from Kaiba’s lips and his whole body tensed but he offered no resistance as Atem drew his hand back and a white orb followed it, easing out of Kaiba’s chest. There were electric blue seams all along the surface and one soft touch of Atem’s finger caused the sphere to split apart into complicated pieces not unlike those of the Puzzle. It hovered in front of Kaiba’s chest, the pieces separate but still in the shape of an expanded sphere. Kaiba’s eyes were open but half-lidded, his breath fast and strained but his attention fully on the sphere as Atem spoke, low and steady.

“Do you see?” he asked Kaiba. “In here.” Another glance of fingertips along the outer layer and the sphere turned gently. Through the mosaic, Kaiba could see a tiny piece unlike the others – a miniature of the card locket he kept with him at all times. But when Atem turned the sphere again there was another – the image of an eye, the outline of it raised on smooth gold, ancient and contradictory in the midst of the sleek, modern pieces. Kaiba stared at it, shaking.

“…So what?” he eventually breathed out.

This time Atem’s laugh was bright and loud. Kaiba barely caught himself when the Pharaoh moved from his side to kneel in front of him instead. With both hands, Atem cradled the sphere and eased it back together, the pieces slotting in until the orb was solid and whole again. He pressed it forward then and let it sink back into Kaiba’s chest, but he left his hands cupped there for a moment, feeling the thrum of Kaiba’s suit.

“It’s only fair,” Atem eventually decided, and he sat back to brush his fingers over the surface of the Puzzle around his neck. “Have a look.”

Kaiba watched as the Puzzle came apart the same way his orb had, the pieces separating but still maintaining a vague pyramid shape. Inside, two of the pieces were different: one a small, plain brick and the other a tiny white dragon perched atop a golden staff, its tail wrapped in a spiral down the length of the rod.

“Yuugi’s,” Atem said, touching the brick tenderly. “From the soul room we shared. And yours.” He touched the dragon but it stayed coiled, its head tucked as if sleeping. “I feel like this part of my soul used to thrash with confusion,” he said as the Puzzle closed together again over the brick and the dragon. It settled against his chest and he covered it with a hand, eyes closed and smiling gently. “But now it is at rest. I finally know how you feel.”

“And now you’ll send me back,” Kaiba said, harsh and accusatory. “What the hell was the point of all this?” He tried to push forward but his arms folded and he collapsed instead. When Atem moved to help, Kaiba knocked his hand away, breathing harshly against the dust on the floor. “Why make me admit any of this if it doesn’t change anything?” His eyes squeezed shut. _I was the strongest, the smartest, the richest. Through my tech, I made the impossible possible. I could do anything, so_ why _? Why can he still shut me down like this and turn me away. Why can’t I bring him back?_ His hands clenched on nothing.

“Maybe it doesn’t change anything now,” Atem answered. “But if you can accept that you are capable of loving me, then maybe you will find yourself capable of loving another. That’s all I’d really hoped for. And… that if I could help you like this, maybe my own regret would ease. So, you see, I’m just being selfish.” He smirked down at Kaiba but the expression quickly fell away. Kaiba’s eyes were still closed and the soul energy leaking from him was starting to gather in force. Atem’s bare knees scraped on the stone as he hurried to prop Kaiba up, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and supporting him against his chest as his other hand pressed on the suit again. He studied its rhythm, found the common time between it and Kaiba’s heartbeat underneath, then found a suitable harmony in his own heart. But he hesitated to call on his magic.

“It’s over already,” he murmured, holding tight. “Can we at least say goodbye this time?” He stared down at Kaiba’s face, drawn and vacant for lack of energy, and he knew that Kaiba would not wake again as long as he was in that dimension. In a split-second lashing of bitter, anguished energy, Atem called the magic down on them both, a column of light crashing over them with a crack like thunder, and when it cleared Kaiba was gone from Atem’s arms.

Left alone in the firelight and shadows, Atem folded forward, knuckles scraping on stone, and let his tears fall.

 

During Kaiba’s fervent and determined development of the dimension pod, Mokuba had been a quiet shadow, double checking calculations and wiring and installing safety protocols wherever he could. Kaiba never acknowledged his involvement, but it was enough for Mokuba that he didn’t try to chase him away.

When it came time to put the pod to the test, Mokuba remained on the space station in order to monitor its progress. The pod was launched toward Earth, the kinetic energy, pressure and temperature changes, and gravitational shifts all feeding this beast of a device that Mokuba could barely wrap his mind around. But evidently it worked, at least on some level, because when Mokuba slowly raised the pod back up from its receiving pad into the launch room on the space station it was empty, and the onboard computers were churning out data from the dimension suit.

And before Mokuba could even figure out where to _start_ to bring Kaiba back, he’d returned in a horrific crash of noise and light that shook through the station.

That had been five minutes ago.

Mokuba now stood beside the dimension pod listening to the chaotic mix of its medical monitors as they sounded their warnings – too many at once and damn them all anyway because he couldn’t _do_ anything with the knowledge of which biological functions were failing. The pod would not open. So Mokuba stood and watched his brother’s face through the pod’s hypershield, memorizing it. Kaiba had known full well going in that he might not come out. It was up to Mokuba now to decide if he would feel hate or resignation or despair or indifference at his brother’s choice. Whatever he decided, though, he’d have to come to terms with it quickly. He had a company to run, after all.

His body was apparently way ahead of him. It had chosen despair and his shoulders shook with it, his cheeks wet and his eyes stinging. But Mokuba still turned from the pod with his head held up as he took measured steps toward the exit to the control room. The stock drop would be phenomenal once word of his brother’s death got out. He’d have to come up with a recovery plan.

At the threshold of the launch room the blaring warning tones suddenly cut off and Mokuba stopped, his heart hammering in his chest. He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth. It was really the end, then, if the machines weren’t even bothering anymore.

The hiss of the pod’s hydraulics washed over him and he had the irrational, childish impulse to run back and cry over his brother’s body – to pull him out of the monstrosity of science that had taken Seto away from him – but he didn’t even turn. Refused to look back.

When the reflection of Kaiba Seto, pale and battered with his suit lights dulled by desert sand, appeared behind him in the glass walls of the station, Mokuba let out a shout and folded to his knees. Slowly, he turned back toward Kaiba, staring up at him from the floor.

“How long was I gone?” Kaiba asked, and Mokuba blinked his tears away in an instant, hopping to his feet like nothing had happened.

“Thirty-six minutes,” he answered crisply.

Kaiba grinned. “Excellent.” He strode past Mokuba to the control room and Mokuba hurried after him. “It needs refinements. I’ll do the modifications myself–”

“Nii-sama–”

Kaiba paused with his fingers over the keys of the station’s main computer. He glanced down at Mokuba, at the tear tracks on his face and the redness of his eyes and the dignity in his stance. “…Tomorrow,” Kaiba said, then he knelt and pulled Mokuba into his arms. Mokuba froze. “I got ahead of myself,” Kaiba admitted, as close to an apology as he could come. “It won’t happen again.”

“Did you find him?” Mokuba asked.

Kaiba settled back, leaving just his hands on Mokuba’s shoulders as he gave a short nod.

“Then that’s fine,” Mokuba answered firmly. “I’ll be assisting with the modifications. And, of course, the next time you go to see him, I’ll be standing by.”

“…Who said I was going to see him again?” Kaiba asked, and Mokuba pulled out of his grasp to put his fists on his hips in a huff.

“I’m not a little kid anymore, Nii-sama. I’m not stupid. This was _all_ for him and I won’t stand in your way if he’s that important to you.”

A small sound escaped from the back of Kaiba’s throat but he swallowed any denial he was reflexively tempted to make. “And if I… love him?” he tried, testing it out and feeling unacceptably vulnerable.

Mokuba blinked at him for a bewildered moment, but then a grin broke across his face. “Then it’s about damn time you do something about it, Nii-sama. Let’s not wait ‘til tomorrow to get started.”

 

“He’s returned!”

Atem was already awake, staring from his bed at the dim, pre-dawn horizon past his open balcony when the runner’s call echoed down the hall to his quarters. There was no doubt in his mind who she meant. What had woken him was the shaking of his soul as another interdimensional shift made way for Kaiba Seto’s arrival. He’d come back, and Atem feared the worst.

“Where?” he demanded in the direction of the hallway as he leapt from his bed. The heavy gold of his regalia was left behind, only the Puzzle around his neck and the linen around his waist as he ran barefoot into the hallway. “Is he in the desert? He may be weakened; send a caravan to–”

“That won’t be necessary.”

Atem froze at the sound of the smug, familiar voice. Kaiba stepped around the corner, brushing past the awed messenger to stride right up to Atem. His suit had been modified – sleeker now without the white coat and no longer wired through the Duel Disk system. The black haze of bleeding energy was nowhere to be seen. Instead, an aura of deep, vibrant blue smoldered close across Kaiba’s back and shoulders.

“I gave it some thought,” he said in the face of Atem’s speechlessness. “And no, I’m not capable of loving anyone else.”

There was no hesitation. Kaiba curled a finger under Atem’s chin and leaned down, claiming his lips with all the fervent challenge they’d always met each other with up to now. Atem’s arms slid around Kaiba’s neck, his dark skin tingling as it brushed through the soul energy gathered there. The runner made an immediate dash for the high priests’ quarters, grinning all the way – no one was going to one-up her on _this_ news.

Kaiba smirked when Atem finally broke away from him for air. “So dead men need to breathe still, huh?”

Atem put his hand on Kaiba’s chest and shoved him back a step, but he kept his palm there, feeling the vibrations of the new circuitry. “Mind your own business,” he panted, licking his lips. “This world is mine, and it obeys the rules I set for it.”

“And _everyone_ has to follow those rules?”

Their eyes met with every semblance of defiance but Atem’s only answer was, “Everyone but you.”

“Good,” Kaiba said, pulling him in, and they staggered back through the doorway to Atem’s room as the sun broke over the horizon.

**Author's Note:**

> I was generally a Puzzleshipper, but how could I not write this after seeing that movie? I mean, Kaiba built a goddamn interdimensional shuttle just to see him again. Fuck “to the moon and back.” _That’s_ love. 
> 
> Also, if anybody reading this follows me for DCMK, I finished chapter 2 of Tales of Travel! Two down, eight to go! *happy dance*
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> ~DS


End file.
